LivingSocial raises $175 million from Amazon

Amid all the talk about Google potentially acquiring Groupon for a whopping $5 billion to $6 billion, rival LivingSocial announced it has raised $175 million from Amazon and an additional $8 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Both are among the explosion of startups offering daily local deals, from holiday cable car tours to discounted facials and massages.

LivingSocial said it has more than 10 million subscribers across 120 locations in the United States and internationally. It also said it books revenues of more than $1 million a day on average and expects to make about $500 million next year.

But an analysis by Experian Hitwise found that Groupon has shot ahead of LivingSocial and other local daily deal sites such as San Francisco’s Plum District.

It said that Groupon received 79 percent of U.S. visits last week and LivingSocial received 8 percent among its look at 81 group buying sites.